The band LIONCAGE was founded
in 2013 by Thorsten Bertermann (vocals), Torsten Landsberger (drums)
and Lars König (guitar & mix). All three musicians had known each
other for many years performing in professional tribute bands, and
impulsively started a band with original songs after having a couple of
beers at a festival, well, a rock festival…
After two years of song-writing and recording demos, the LIONCAGE debut
release "Done At Last“ successfully saw the light of day in Europe and
Japan.
Even though the trio has a big variety of individual musical influences
they have one passion in common: Melodic Rock and Rock bands such as
Toto, Foreigner, Journey, Huey Lewis, Genesis, Yes, Paul Carrack,
Chicago and many more. Besides these influences, LIONCAGE’s sound also
showcases a contemporary, own sound on their second album “The Second
Strike” which now is presented with even more finesse, power and
versatility.
Some fantastic and talented musicians and friends helped the German
three-piece to complete their new record. The bass guitar was handled by
Lars Slowak, Sven Zimmermann, Andreas Laude-Schwedewsky and Dirk Meyer,
keyboards by Mitch Knauer and Shanger Ohl, and backing vocals by
Madeleine Lang, Anja Bublitz, Olaf Senkbeiland Billy King. Last but not
least, one of the finest studio guitarists, Tim Pierce, (Bruce
Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Rascal Flatts, Joe Cocker, Rick
Springfield, Elton John etc.) took over some guitar parts on the track
“Secrets”.
On “The Second Strike”, Lioncage impressively prove that Germany is able
to offer great productions in the Westcoast, AOR and Melodic Rock
genre.
Dream passionately. Dedicate your life to your craft. Work hard and aim for the stars! That is the story of Sammy Berell.
It all started back in the early 80’s when as a kid Sammy walked into a
church and heard the angelic sound of the organ and someone playing a
classical composition by Johann Sebastian Bach. Mesmerized by the sound
and bewildered by how someone could play so many different tones,
classical music would have a great impact on his life from this day.
Sammy Berell was so inspired by the old composers and started
practicing different instruments, including the piano at the age of six
as well as the flute, drums and violin to name a few. As an early
teenager he was given an electrical guitar by his father and at the same
time he had grown tired of his acoustic one. He was instantly hooked
because it was so easy to play and learn it. It felt all so natural.
Encouraged by his parents, most importantly his mother to
pursue his dreams about music, he practiced day in and day out. But
people never seemed to understand his extraordinary talent and few
people took him seriously. Even though he knew he was good, Sammy Berell
wanted to shine above all the others. He sacrificed a lot for years as
he recorded himself and practiced even more. He knew that he had to aim
high and never compromise if he wanted to reach his dream.
Sammy Berell’s debut “Passion Dreams” is set for
release in March 2017 on Dark Force Records / Sound Pollution. The
album, born out of dream-fueled passion was recorded in Sound VS Science
Studio with producer Daniel Flores (The Murder Of My Sweet, Mind’s Eye,
Saviour) together with Sammy Berell as a co-producer.
The album features some of the greatest voices in hard rock;
Michael Vescera (Yngwie Malmsteen, Loudness, Obsession) as well as Göran
Edman (Yngwie Malmsteen, John Norum, Kharma).
Dutch rockers, LOVELL'S BLADE, formed when several members split from long-running metal band, Picture. Those members included Pete Lovell (vocals), Mike Ferguson (guitar) and Andre Wullems (guitar), who then teamed up with Patrick Velis (bass) and Noel van Eersel (drums) to form their new act, LOVELL'S BLADE.
Their debut album, Stone Cold Steel, was recorded and mixed by Serge Naberman at the prestigious Claim To Fame Studios. The record is scheduled to be released via Divebomb Records in North America and through Into The LimeLight Records in Europe and Asia this winter.
Divebomb Records owner, Matthew Rudzinski, states:
"After having previously worked with Pete Lovell on reissuing his music
endeavors with Picture and Emergency it only made sense that we help to
promote this brand new chapter. We look forward to bringing LOVELL'S
BLADE to music fans all over North America this winter."
Into The LimeLight Records owner Harm Kindt states:
"We were very keen to sign Pete's new band. As Dutch label we are able
work very closely with the band and are absolutely convinced that this
record will be a big success. The experience and quality of all
individual musicians and the fact that there is a big world wide
interest in the band makes it a very exciting project. We are also
looking forward to work together with Divebomb Records".
The release of Stone Cold Steel will coincide with a new video clip and a number of European dates starting beginning 2017.
A South American tour is being planned by Open The Road tour promoters for the second half of 2017.
Swedish Prog Ensemble Carptree Recording New Album "Emerger" To Be Released On Reingold Records!
Sweden - Swedish prog ensemble Carptree will be releasing their new video titled "Fleeting Deep" in February. The track comes from their highly anticipated forthcoming album "Emerger" to be released on April 7th!
Carptree is a Swedish progressive symphonic rock duo made featuring Carl Westholm (keyboards, composer, producer) and Nicklas Flinck (vocals, composer, lyrics). Although Carptree is a duo they are almost always accompanied by the No Future Orchestra (NFO); A group of people from known and unknown other Swedish acts, who add their personal touch, more or less frequent. This is also the basis for other important people (OIP) who are also a part of the creative process in the making of a Carptree album.
Says the band, "This album was a really slow starter, we started already in 2014 with some of the songs, the first two song was 'Fleeting Deep' and 'Ultimately Lifeless' which both have taken a lot of different shapes along the process. 'Between Extremes' is also a song that has been around in different shapes for many years, first we recorded it in 2009, but was not happy and cut it down to a short version which ended up on Nymf 'Between Extremes, Prelude', then rewrote it and planned to release it as a single in 2012 but was not happy with the result. So again we rewrote it and when we recorded it with Jesper Skarin on the drums and Carl rerecorded everything with just his Fender Rhodes and organ and we were finally happy with it. That's why we wanted to release that song already in May 2016 as a Maxi single to give that special song a chance to stand on it's own."
"A coherent jewel of progressive rock" - Metal Observer
As always the duo used the "No Future Orchestra" on the new album, which is a loosely connected group of musicians very important to Carptree. Also on this album Jesper Skarin joined in on drums and percussion and Carl has played some bass and guitars. Except the mellotrons that are taken from a sampler software, all instruments and amplifiers on this album are analogue just as the mix and mastering.
On the CD there will be 8 songs including a remixed version of "Dwindle Into Greatness" (The B-side of the Maxi single released in May 2016) as a bonus track. The vinyl version will have the other 7 tracks and will be release approximately one month after the CD on the FOSFOR Creation label. (Two versions, Black and transparent Marine blue)
"You can´t get better music than this" - Progressiveworld.net
The progressive duo Carptree was formed in 1997 in Stockholm, Sweden, by the songwriters Niclas Flinck, vocals, and Carl Westholm, keyboards and production. Under the years 2001-2010 they released 5 albums and did some live performances. The Album "Superhero" in 2003 was the first to gain a wide popularity among prog listeners around the world. "Man made machine" in 2005 was release both on their own label FOSFOR Creation and Insideout and got an even wider distribution, then followed by "Insekt" 2007 and "Nymf" in 2010 where the latter also was released as a Vinyl LP in 2011 by Ritual echo records. Carl Westholm has apart from this project been a member of some heavy Metal acts like Candlemass, Krux and Avatarium and lately live keyboard player with Tiamat. Between 2008 and 2013 he also released three albums under the name Jupiter Society and has also played on some Declan Burke albums.
The newest member of No Future Orchestra is Jesper Skarin on drums known from Swedish acts like Vak and Switch Open and others. Even though Niclas and Carl writes and produce everything No Future Orchestra is way more than just a bunch of hired guns as they have over the years contributed a lot of creative input and support.
For all of you that long for music with integrity and diversity, open you arms for the "Emerger", Carptree is back!
"Starbynary" is a project born in September 2012 from an idea by Joe Caggianelli:
after leaving his band (Derdian) he decided to enroll his friend Leo
Giraldi, great Guitar Player and composer (from Trieste) and start
together a new great musical project!
After few months Luigi Accardo (from Cagliari), talented composer and
fantastic keyboard player became part of the family, so the band was
almost complete and ready to produce great music!
For the production of the first full lenght (2014), Dark Passenger, the
band has collaborated with an appreciated musician: as bass player, the
great Mike Lepond, from Symphony X!
The band is very proud of this work and for this collaboration.
In 2015 they start to work on "DIVINA COMMEDIA - Inferno" and during the composition process began working with
Andrea Janko on drums (from Trieste) and Sebastiano Zanotto on bass.
Progressive Power Metal, with varied influences, will be the flag style of Starbynary.
LINE UP
Joe Caggianelli – Vocals
Leo Giraldi – Guitars
Luigi Accardo- Keyboards and Piano
Sebastiano Zanotto – Bass
Andrea Janko – Drums
ALBUM
DIVINA COMMEDIA: INFERNO
TRACKLIST
01 - The Dark Forest (Canto I)
02 - Gate of Hell (Canto III)
03 - In Limbo (Canto IV)
04 - Paolo e Francesca (Canto V)
05 - Medusa and the Angel (Canto IX)
06 - Seventh Circle (Canto XII-XIII-XIV)
07 - Malebolge (Canto XVIII)
08 - Soothsayers (Canto XX)
09 - Ulysse's Journey (Canto XXVI)
10 - The Tower of Hunger (Canto XXXII-XXXIII)
11 - Stars (Canto XXXIV: I Lucifero, II Cosmo, III Finally Ascendant)
INFO
Release Date:
FEB 03 rd , 2017
Fall and rise from hell.
Allegory of life where drama and theatricality emphasize the passage of
human existence, declaiming defects and sins, pointing up the
precariousness but also highlighting the divine greatness and the noble
majesty.
Is the Dante's Journey through which you can peer inside the human soul until it was lost into a vortex of emotions!
ROCKSHOTS Records is extremely excited to announce the release of Binary Creed new album “A Battle Won“!
Swedish Progressive Metallers Binary Creed, formed by seasoned
musicians with a past in bands like M.A.D. and Hollow, after the release
of “Restitution” (2014) are now back with a new concept album produced by the band itself, mixed and mastered by Ronnie Björnström (Enhanced Audio Studios).
“A Battle Won” mixes progressive metal and modern sounds, with great melodies, keyboard hooks and moods and tons of heavy guitar riffs!
“A Battle Won” released on November 4th, 2016 via ROCKSHOTS Records.
Listen, Watch and Download the first song released from the album, “In A Time To Come”!
TRACKLIST: 01. Servants 02. Lurking In The Shadow 03. In A Time To Come 04. The Fallen King 05. The Ones To Bleed 06. Safer Than Now 07. A Better Man 08. Black Storm 09. These Hands 10. Journey Without End
Mrs. X rocks! “He plays Rock ‘n’ Roll” is officially released!
This lady sure keeps her promises. When singer-songwriter Mrs. X first announced her “pop à la carte“ project, she promised her fans something new from the “à la carte” menu every month throughout 2017. And, Mrs. X is a woman of her word.
One month after the successful release of her newest “pop à la carte” single, “80 Miles Away,” which is blasting its way onto the airwaves, gaining airplay and creating quite a stir in Europe, Africa and North America, her follow up single, “He Plays Rock ‘n’ Roll” is out.
“He plays rock 'n' Roll“ is now available for immediate downloading on iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, iGroove and any other global download site. You can also stream it on Spotify, Deezer, Tidal and all the other popular streaming platforms.
For “He Plays Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Mrs. X has put the band back together, Sefi Carmel, Jon Hockings, Felix Brüske and Christopher Langer for starters. In fact, over forty musicians from around the world are contributing to Mrs. X’s “pop à la carte” project, to help keep the music coming. Working with such an international team is business as usual for Mrs. X who is quickly becoming a new global symbol of pop music.
The result is a sultry, hard driving classic rock track. That’s right, for “He Plays Rock and Roll” Mrs. X takes a brief excursion beyond her signature “pop à la carte” style for some good ol rock ‘n’ roll. Call it “Rock à la carte” and stand back rock lovers, because this one lives up to its title.
“He Plays Rock ‘n’ Roll” is the heart rending story of a man striving for greatness at the one thing he loves, willing to face all obstacles, even if it means being ostracized by society. It could be the love of art, or science, or business, but in this case it is music, and in spite of all his faults and defects, when he picks up his guitar, all else is forgotten and forgiven, because he sure can play rock ‘n’ roll.
Mrs. X admires people who pursue their dreams. “This song has a special place in my heart,” she says. “I am attracted to people who are honest with themselves and are courageous enough to look inside themselves for encouragement. After all, I, too, am a dreamer in the midst of pursuing my own destiny by living my passion every day.
“But, passion and dedication aren’t enough. I have so many musical artists to thank for their help and unflagging support, beginning as always with Sefi Carmel, the wizard who puts the magic in all my tracks. He and his whole staff at Soundtracks Studio in London are the ones who make the music shine.” Sefi mixed and mastered “He Plays Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
This is an emotion packed song about a man, sung by a woman. Not an easy task. The wildly inventive guitar licks that London sensation Jon Hockings brings are an essential component to the explosive power this song exudes. His guitar riffs get your pulse pounding and your feet dancing.
Mrs. X is grateful to Keith George for meticulously going through every word of the song, helping her refine and polish her lyrics. Also, she sends a big thanks to Oliver Krato for his exquisite cover photography and to Felix Brüske and Cristopher Langer who helped her to record her vocals.
As of today, Mrs. X’s ‘Rock à la carte’ single “He Plays Rock ’n’ Roll” is available for immediate downloading on iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, iGroove and any other global download site. You can also stream it on Spotify, Deezer, Tidal and all the other popular streaming platforms.
“Come on,” says Mrs. X, “let´s ‘rock à la carte.’” Rock on!
“Everywhere a stranger, everywhere at home.” No motto could better describe the cosmopolitan singer, songwriter, and producer Mrs. X. With familial roots stretching across the globe, she has ancestors from the Netherlands, the Dominican Republic, and Azerbaijan. However, that is the sum total of what we know of her private life. Her age, real name, and personal details are unknown to all save herself. Even the city she calls home remains an enigma.
None of this would be possible without living the act 24 hours a day, and she has maintained this level of secrecy since the first days of her career. Ever elusive, she never goes on stage without her gorgeous and intricately designed mask, which you will find on all of her album covers and music videos.
When she first felt inspired to begin recording music, she turned to “The Circus Princess,” an operetta by Emmerich Kalman. In a world dominated by celebrity, the talented acrobat Mr. X shuns personal fame for love of his act. After donning a black mask one day, he begins wearing the mask during all of his performances to hide his identity, and he never reveals his name or personal history. With his origins safe from the public, he is free to pursue his art.
Just like her fictional inspiration, Mrs. X finds the mask and her secrecy key to her artistic liberation. Her secretive nature works both ways by allowing her audience to enjoy her music without that private noise.
Over the years, she has shared a few morsels of her life growing up. We know that she has a solid musical education. She also studied law at a university though we don’t know the name of the university, and during those years, she pursued a second degree, but she has never specified in which field. While pursuing her studies, she discovered her deep love of writing music and performing, and although busy, she began her musical career. At first, she performed as a lead vocalist for several bands, but her career began to shine when she started composing her own songs.
Mrs. X created her signature style „pop á la carte“ in 2012. Drawing inspiration from her family’s background across multiple continents, she describes pop á la carte as pop mixed with a strong guitar riffs, with a touch of rock and then seasoned with a slight Caribbean influence, and after years of experimenting and perfecting, she has transformed her new style into a gourmet musical menu.
Just as she draws inspiration from around the world, she knows no boundaries when choosing her musicians. She loves it, to collaborate with musicians from all over the world. She has worked with producers like Yashar Bakhish from Baku and Carlos Perón, best known as the grounder for the Swiss band Yello.
In her current team are professionals from UK, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Jamaica, USA, Brazil and Azerbaijan. Rounding out the team behind all of the new albums is Sefi Carmel, an award-winning London-based composer, mixing and mastering engineer, producer, and sound designer. Over his long career spanning decades, he has been fortunate enough to work with dozens of A-list musicians and film directors. Mixing music has been one of his life’s great passions for more than 20 years.
So far, he has had the honor and privilege to work with some of the world’s greatest musical icons such as David Bowie, Phil Collins, Michael Bublé, Bruno Mars, and countless others.
It will be hot next year: three (!) newest albums set to be released in 2017, and all of them continue this tradition of international cooperation. Although she exclusively composed all of the songs featured, musicians from the US, Canada, Jamaica, Azerbaijan, the UK, Israel, Russia, Italy, and Germany all collaborated with her to create the album.
The first single „80 Miles Away“, which previews the first album „Pop á la carte“, was released in November 2016. And from now on Mrs. X will release her music (singles, EPs and albums) every month until 2018.
Stay with Mrs, X, stay tuned, enjoy pop á la carte by Mrs. X!
Crossbones
is the most recognized metal act in Albania and the only band from the
mid 90-s that kept going. Among countless gigs and performances,
Crossbones have played aside Rock and Metal giants such as Ian Paice,
legendary drummer of Deep Purple and as a direct opening act for Greek
Black Metallers Rotting Christ.
Crossbones has been the only metal band as well to “sell” outside the
Albanian borders and tour around. They have played and headlined in many
concerts and festivals in the local scene, as well as within the
region, Macedonia, Montenegro, Greece, Kosovo.
Their new album “WWIII” is making quite a buzz since its launch in
January 13 2017. The news was spread throughout 3 continents, Europe,
USA and Australia and in more than 20 webzines and portals.
The Balkan band has worked with the well-known producer and sound
engineer Tommy Talamanca at his Nadir Music Studios who has mixed and
mastered the album. The new record combines American thrash metal
influences with a dark sound and typical Est European sonorities. The
result is an album created with the intention of hit hard the ears of
the listener without losing melodic passages and “catchy” riffs, and
where the recurring use of both English and Albanian languages marks a
new way in the European post-thrash genre.
The band is working closely with Nadir Music Genova(Italy) and Grand
Sounds Promotion(Ukraine) and several dates are already confirmed for
Italy and Greece early in February and March 2017.
Nietzsche memorably wrote that we should be careful not to gaze too long into the abyss, for the abyss also gazes into us.
Well, Enime are a band not afraid to gaze into the abyss and to
take musical and lyrical inspiration from it. But no inspirations from
mythical gods and monsters, rather Enime are inspired by the world
around us. Vocalist Grey explains eloquently. ‘The lyrics on this album
are a conglomerate of what’s wrong with the world and it eats away at
our souls…Every single day each and everyone of us lives with the
horrors of this world. You put on the 6 O’ Clock News and it paints a
very dark picture of today’s society. The days of seeing something
positive are few and far between and becoming a thing of the past. We
live in a world of silicon. Everything is fake. What you see is not what
you get. Starting with the simplest cosmetic surgery, to one’s Facebook
profile, to the media altering a report, all the way to the powers that
be feeding us a pile of shit on a daily basis. We as a people have
created a monster and it is taking over. Every time we let this evil
inside us it takes a bite of our souls. When the last mouthful has been
devoured nothing is left but…THE DEMON INSIDE!’
Influenced by 80s thrash giants like Exodus, Anthrax and
Metallica and later-day heroes like Killswitch Engage, Enime’s music is
‘heavy articulate, clean, thrashy, and also melodic.’ Indeed Stef sees
their new album as the aural equivalent of a laxative, claiming the fans
will ‘poop their pants’ when they hear it.
The unique Enime vision extends to music as well as lyrics.
‘The evolution of the band is to become better players and songwriters!’
Enime’s debut album ‘Demon Inside’ is now available on iTunes, Amazon, and all major online retailers.
Black yet Full of Stars
is a project born in 2012 from the mind of the guitar player Carlo
Dini. He decide to start something of his own after playing for a couple
of years with the guitar player Marco Caiterzi and the drummer Periklis
Roussis.
It took almost one year to find the band's balance and sound: the
essence of it was discovered with Carlo's growing interest in
orchestral musicjoined his and Marco's heavy/trash guitar riffs.
The core of the all album was already set in 2014 but due to many
changes of members it was not meant to be considered as "complete".
Most of all Black yet Full of Stars could not be released, according to the whole band, without a proper voice, even though they had many great vocalist.
David Scott McBee was that voice, and as soon as he joined the
band at the end of 2015, the arrangements were completed and the album
Black yet Full of Stars, named after the band, was recorded.
Black yet Full of Stars is the album every band release, eventually. The one that explains a specific journey, and we like to think to Black yet Full of Stars as that journey. That which everyone in his own way must take to grow from child to man.
This album tries to address those dreamy eyed children that feel constantly misplaced [01 Lightborn],
and to explain the phases of their journey. The insecurity that this
world can make you feel [02 Golden Child], the courage to face your
choices [03 Face to Face], the acknowledgment of what makes you who you are [04 A Boy in Chains ], knowing what and who should be leaved behind [05 Lords of Silence] and who to rely in [06 Every Great Man’s Ghost]. Whatever the reached conclusion is [ 07 The Last against the Wolves], at the end of their path, when the storm is over [08 Tempesta], they will get to know that life is just as the sky they now can clearly see: maybe dark, but full of stars.
Besides
the lyrics, we tried to make the concept of travelling clear also by
letting the songs in the same order as they has been written, so
Lightborn was the very first tune of the band in 2013 and Tempesta the
last one, born in Rome on the last days of recording.
Barrie, ON's ambient progressive metal / rock duo JUPITER HOLLOW were birthed in 2015 and
have already mastered the art of bringing their fans on an audio and
visual experience. Their sound is usually referred to as spacey,
experimental and refreshing, reminding listeners of bands like Tool,
Pink Floyd, A Perfect Circle, Tesseract, The Contortionist and
Rush. Consisting of two young, passionate and driven Canadian artists,
Grant MacKenzie (21) and Kenny Parry (18), the pair perform with a
dominating stage presence, while captivating their audiences with their
unique sonic journey. Their debut EP 'Odyssey' is a concept record featuring 5 tracks to introduce JUPITER HOLLOW's ambient experimental progressive songwriting plus will act as a prelude to their planned full length 'AHDOMN'.
Show Dates: January 14 - Toronto, ON - Smiling Buddha (CD Release Show) - infoJan 18-22 - Los Angeles, CA - NAMM *(attendance only) March 3 - Barrie, ON - Foxx Lounge
Vancouver's 88 MILE TRIP are very proud Canadians, they are so proud that they have put together a new 5 track EP entitled 'Blame Canada'
covering songs in tribute to Canadian rock and roll music of years past
such as Bachman Turner Overdrive, Neil Young, Red River, The Stampeders
plus Doug and The Slugs. The best part about this EP besides it all
celebrating Canuck music, is that it's available for FREE DOWNLOAD via the band's bandcamp page at https://88miletrip.bandcamp.com.
The EP was created as a fun salute to the greats who laid the foundation for 88 MILE TRIP and
other modern Canadian bands. The connection came full circle when,
while recording the EP, Doug And The Slugs co-founder and keyboard
player Simon Kendall got wind that the band were covering “Tomcat
Prowl”, that he came down to the studio to lay down some keys on it.
The band explains the story behind the EP:
"The
idea for the Blame Canada EP was spawned while we were on tour
promoting our full length album “Through The Thickest Haze”. On our
drive from Calgary AB to Cranbrook, BC, a song came on the radio in the
van with this incredibly heavy riff that was good enough to be on any of
the first four Black Sabbath records. It turned out to be a Bachman
Turner Overdrive song called “Not Fragile”. After that we got thinking,
if we had never heard this song before, how many other awesome Canadian
rock songs have we missed out on. That thought turned into many hours of
beer drinking plus record spinning, and eventually the idea to cover
some songs we had discovered. We hope that Canadian music fans, young
and old alike, enjoy this tribute to some of the best music our country
has ever produced."
Track listing. 1. Not Fragile (Bachman Turner Overdrive cover) 2. Cowboys In Hong Kong (Red Rider cover) 3. Tomcat Prowl (Doug and The Slugs Cover) Feat. Simon Kendall 4. Ohio (Neil Young Cover) 5. Wild Eyes (Stampeders cover)
88 Mile Trip: David Bell: Vocals Pat Hill: Guitar Darin Wall: Bass Eddie Riumin: Drums Simon Kendall: Guest keyboard on “Tomcat Prowl” Engineered, Mixed and Mastered by Mike Rogerson at Harbourside Studios, North Vancouver BC, Canada Assisted by Rob Acquino and Nick Stirling
